visa reveals new mobile payment solution during the mwc

Mobile World Congress 2012 is not just about ads with new smartphones and tablets. Visa, for example, has announced a new one-stop solution for mobile payments. The service can be used by the owners of phones with NFC technology, and will serve the financial institutions and mobile operators.

The new service was developed in collaboration with data security company Oberthur Technologies, which will provide the software and data structure to manage bank and credit card accounts in conjunction with NFC-compatible phones. Visa, on the other hand, promises to provide the elements necessary to make the transaction via smartphones as secure as possible, within the requirements of the payments ecosystem from mobile devices.

Payment would be made through the Over The Air (NTA) system via NFC, allowing not only the payment of bills but also the payment of purchases in various establishments as well as financial transactions between two users. All this through a powerful tool, with several levels of security and enhanced certifications, which require client authentication for the transaction to be completed.

For the system to work, the user needs to have a Visa-approved NFC phone in their compliance tests. A prior contact is made between the customer bank or the flag bank with the Visa card to the service provider or mobile operator of the user, requesting the activation of the mobile payments service in the client’s account. By using the mobile phone for bill payment, Visa’s mobile communications software communicates with the bank and carrier, and then initiates the payment process. The software will authenticate the account holder, prompting the user to enter an access password. If the password is correct, the transaction is complete.

Intel has already announced that it will partner with Visa and will add the feature on its new NFC smartphones and tablets.